HOLLADAY, Utah — Three homes were evacuated Tuesday night after a mudslide on the east bench of the Salt Lake Valley.
Unified Fire Authority initially said a water line broke shortly after 8 p.m., causing the mudslide on a hill east of I-215 near 5700 South.
They later determined that the water main did not rupture, but the bottom of its meter box malfunctioned, which caused the line to malfunction as well.
"The meter box is designed with a sacrificial bottom," explained Chloe Morroni with the Salt Lake City Department of Public Works, "and what that means is that when water starts building up, it allows it to come out through the slats in the bottom of the meter box, and typically if it was on just a flat surface, it would saturate the ground. But because this is on an elevated surface about 50 to 75 feet up, it saturated the ground, but it turned the mud into something that would come crashing down."
Nobody was injured, but three homes near 3100 E. Silver Hawk Drive were evacuated. Firefighters helped to stop the water, mud and debris from flowing into homes as much as they could before the water company was able to turn the water off. One of the homes sustained a "significant" amount of mud in its basement.
Fire crews were at the scene until around 10:30 p.m., while city utility workers stayed later into the night. Cleanup efforts in one home's basement were still underway Wednesday morning.
It's not yet known what caused the break in the water line.
